On GM’s corporate Fast Lane blog, the struggling automaker announced a potentially life-saving addition to its OnStar Automatic Crash Response technology. You may recall from all the commercials that OnStar transmits basic telemetry from a crash, including GPS location, the crash’s severity, and whether the car’s airbags deployed.

The new tool, called Injury Severity Prediction, interprets that data further and attempts to predict if a crash is likely to have caused severe injury to passengers. “Each crash will be given an Injury Severity Prediction of either ‘normal’ or ‘high,’ helping first responders better determine what level of care is required and what medical facility is most appropriate for transport,” the company said in the blog entry. “As we learned from the medical experts on the CDC panel, seconds are precious following a traumatic injury and complications can result from the delayed treatment of injuries.”

I’d personally love to see this added to all cars without a subscription fee–just the emergency features, as the navigation and all that other stuff that’s part of OnStar could be extra cost. Think about it: today’s cell phones have emergency GPS capabilities, even if you’re not paying extra for the navigation service. There’s no reason why all cars couldn’t have it too–especially given that each car costs a heck of a lot more than a cell phone. Other manufacturers are getting into the market, but GM leads here.